FFG Forum Archive

Posted at 2016-07-31 00:23:50+00:00

Motivation

I love flying swarms. There's something deeply satisfying about flying a pack of mosquitoes in formation around the board and focus firing multiple shots on a single target to wear down an otherwise elite ship. Blocking, swarming, focus firing, and self-blocking all swirl together into a delightful game of X-Wing to me.

The 6+ ship swarms are fairly well understood. You can pick the purist's 8 TIE swarm, or the 7 TIE swarm with Howlrunner, or enjoy the design space around a 6 TIE swarm where you throw in elite TIE's or maybe a few Black Squadron Pilots with Crack Shot. That Crack Black has become a new standard at 15 points. And if you love your Rebels, you can look into the Headhunter swarm that has occasionally done well. These ships usually clock in well below 19 points in order to hit 6 to 8 ships in the list, and will not be the focus here.

The 19-20 point range is very interesting to me because it opens up a few new avenues of customization otherwise not available. Yes, Crack Shot still shows up. The value it adds to inexpensive ships is great, although at 19-20 points you start to feel like you need something that lasts longer. But other upgrades begin to work their way in, including some nice Alpha Ordnance Strike lists centered around Proton Rockets or other ordnance load outs.

There are also some 3-attack ships that make it in at 20 points, albeit with fewer upgrades than we're perhaps accustomed to. And of course an upcoming release adds one more 20 point 3-attack ship to this list, and we'll take a look at how it stacks up against its peers.

Ground Rules and Assumptions

The objective of this comparison is to describe the strengths and weaknesses of ships across all three factions with squad point totals of 19-20 points. Additionally, the builds compared here are all non-unique ships with non-unique upgrades which can be "spammed" in a small swarm of five identical ships. Occasionally these builds would benefit from having only 3 or 4 of them in the list and supplementing with an Ace or a support ship for improving the firepower of these builds. I won't be digging into the supplemental ship builds in detail but may mention them in passing.

I've broken down the 20-point builds into four categories: Crackers, Prockers, Alphas, and 3-Attackers. That's probably also in order of viability from best to worst, in case you want to prioritize how much of this post you read.

Crackers

Crackers are perhaps the category that has seen the most success in competitive play. Both of the examples listed here have placed well in store or regional competitions. At 20 points, the Cracker tends to be a PS 4 highly maneuverable 2-attack ship with Crack Shot providing that extra kick.

Omega Squadron Pilot (20) - TIE/FO Fighter with Crack Shot (1), Weapons Guidance (2)

This Omega build definitely carries an Imperial flavor. It's all about attack, defenses be damned! Between Crack Shot and Weapons Guidance, this Omega looks for a focus/joust opportunity as often as possible. The FO gains a shield over the regular TIE Fighter, which adds just a bit more insurance against getting one-shotted off the map too easily when making that first approach. The dial is fast and maneuverable, although I've found that the 2-Segnor's costs this ship dearly since the offensive output depends so heavily upon having that focus to feed to Weapons Guidance. Adding Howlie would help, but of course she doesn't have that Segnor. Another option would be swapping out Crack Shot for Cool Hand (one time focus token when you receive a stress) so you could have another good focus/joust round after the formation performs the Segnor. And when Sensor Cluster comes out, you could balance out the build with Cluster for defense and keep Crack for offense.

Takeaway : Hefty and consistent punch for a swarm if flown well.

Green Squadron Pilot (20) - A-Wing with Adaptability (0), Chardaan Refit (-2), A-Wing Test Pilot (0), Autothrusters (2), Crack Shot (1)

This is Julian Horvath's Chihuahua Swarm, which he flew on his way to winning the Albuquerque Regionals. Following the usual Rebel flavor, compared against the Omega build this GSP has a more defensive posture. It has one less hull but one more shield than the Omega, giving a slight edge in survivability. Add to this that it has Autothrusters, and now the defensive advantage of the GSP over the Omega is more apparent. It also loses barrel roll and gains boost, which arguably makes the ship that much faster, better able to reorient its firing arc, and perhaps a better blocker. The dial has no Segnor's, but has two well spread out k-turns.

You really can't argue with success, and this should be considered the strongest proven 5-ship swarm build in this comparison.

Takeaway : Best of the lot.

Prockers

Want to roll 25 red dice in a round? Well, that's probably not going to happen. But it COULD...

Flying five nimble ships all equipped with Proton Rockets makes for a very exciting game of X-Wing. Since Proton Rockets only require a focus token to fire, these low PS builds have a better chance of getting the ordnance off. And since you get to keep that focus to modify your attack, you can expect Proton Rockets with Guidance Chips to pay out quite nicely most of the time (4.5 expected damage, if I did the math right). What's the catch? Range 1 only.

Sienar Test Pilot (20) - TIE Adv. Prototype with Proton Rockets (3), TIE/v1 (1), Guidance Chips (0)

As soon as I buy four more TAP's... this is what I'm going to fly!

5xSTP (I call the list "Plush") looks like a lot of fun to fly. Rare for a nimble Empire TIE, it has a 1-bank and a 1-turn. Additionally, the 1-bank and 1-turn are green. And then of course, the ship comes equipped with both barrel roll and boost. What a superb set of maneuvers and actions to keep this ship in tight! But there are some anti-synergistic elements here. You need a focus to fire the prockets, which prevents the boost and barrel roll from helping you line up your rocket shot (Push the Limit pushes this build well above 20 points). Also, that needed focus action prevents your use of the target lock and evade token stack from the title. But with a bit of planning, you could target lock during the approach and gain the v1's free evade action to up your survivability. Then swing in tight with a 1-turn and focus to release the prockets.

Something this build has over the other Procker build below is that after the rockets are gone, you still have some action efficiency with the v1 title helping you boost both your offense and defense nearly every round. You'll likely be guessing who you'll have a shot on when picking the target lock before your opponent has moved, making it more challenging to use effectively than a focus token, but it's still impressive action economy on a 20 point ship.

Takeaway : Probably the second best build of the comparison. Need more TAP's...

Prototype Pilot (20) - A-Wing with Proton Rockets (3), Guidance Chips (0)

This build is firmly in the shadow of the TAP build above, in my assessment. Same stat line, except one lower on the PS. The Prototype Pilot may have the evade action, but the TAP gains that for free from its title when target locking. And as for the dial, it gains an extra k-turn option but loses the 1-bank. Especially with the loss of the late game action efficiency boosting v1 title, these Prototype Prockers will have a hard time finishing off anything that survives the rocket strike.

Takeaway : Better hope you drop 'em early, or it's going to be a long slog.

Alphas

Target is approaching... target is dead.

Although these are ordnance builds like the Prockers above, the Alphas and Prockers are two completely different beasts. Whereas Prockers are nimble ships with great dials and nice actions that can dump their ordnance load with nothing more than a focus token on anyone who lands in Range 1 at any point in the match, the Alphas are less nimble ships with humble dials and action bars. And instead of Range 1 shots, these Alphas instead look to unload their missiles on targets at Ranges 2-3. And since their missiles require target locks instead of the more flexible focus token, these 20 point Alpha builds require some changes in tactics.

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (20) - TIE Bomber with Concussion Missiles (4), Long-Range Scanners (0)

Long-Range Scanners were arguably supposed to help low PS ordnance carriers (read: Scimitars) with target lock acquisition, enabling a build just like this one. A more common Scimitar build would throw on a few more points of ordnance (Homing Missiles, Extra Munitions and Seismic Bombs, for example) and fly four bombers instead of five. But for this comparison of peers, we need to assess this 20 point build.

Compared to every other ship in this 20 point comparison, the TIE Bomber boasts the most hit points (6 hull, although zero shields). The dial has its challenges with no 1-turn and a red 2-turn, but the 5-k can come in handy for a ship that really wants to have a bit of space to set up its attack run.

The battle plan here would be to lock a prime target in round 1, approach, focus, spend the TL to fire the Concussion Missiles, and use the Conc's built in blank-to-hit and the focus token to average around 3.7 hits. That's not bad, but I'm not overly impressed. After that one shot, the Bomber is stuck with 2 attack dice. You can gain some action efficiency if you're able to get out to or beyond Range 3 so that you can have a focus and target lock for your follow up attack, but that almost seems like overkill on a 2 attack dice ship.

The Scimitar really seems to ask for a few more points in ordnance. Otherwise, your opponent may just tank the Alpha and proceed to mop up your 2-red bombers. Also, I will not be covering it here, but the TIE Shuttle title offers a lot of interesting builds around the 20 point mark.

Takeaway : Switch to TIE Shuttle or to 4x Bombers with better ordnance loadouts.

Binayre Pirate (18) - Z-95 Headhunter with Homing Missiles (5), Feedback Array (2), Guidance Chips (0)

Here's a nice Scum non-U-Boat Alpha that struggles with target lock acquisition. Feedback Array in large numbers can really frighten aces. When aces are turning and running to avoid your Range 1 bubble, you get more chances to fire off your Homing Missiles. If you're struggling to fire your missiles, I would instead suggest looking for a support ship to help solve the target lock acquisition issue (3x Pirates with Manaroo might be fun!). With Homing Missiles not consuming your target lock and with Guidance Chips helping after the reroll, you can expect 3.7 hits.

The dial is perhaps better than the Bomber since the 2-turn isn't red. But at the 20 point mark, the reliable damage from the Feedback Array strengthens the Binayre spam list against aces in particular, making this a winner over the 20 point bomber.

Takeaway : Probably better as a cheaper and bigger swarm, or with a support ship.

3-Attackers

Do you like dice? We all like dice! (note: sarcasm)

Ships with 3 attack dice do cost more. All three builds with 3 innate attack dice below have zero or one upgrades. The one ship with two upgrades needs both cards just to get to 3 attack dice. None of these ships have any pilot abilities or upgrade cards that improve the attack rolls the ship gets, other than the Mangler Cannon changing a hit to a crit. That is technically an improvement, but it also is not making a miss a hit but is instead making a hit into a little bit better hit. The only way to improve the three attack dice on any of these ships is with focus or target lock tokens.

Three of the four builds below have 3 green dice, as well. And only one of the four has a means to improve the green dice rolls (Autothrusters).

But if your dice are running hot, watch out because you're rolling a lot of them!

Alpha Squadron Pilot (20) - TIE Interceptor with Autothrusters (2)

The Alpha Squadron Pilot with Autothrusters was the first available 20 point 3 attack dice ship of the game (even though Autothrusters came quite a bit later than the ship). This is a high skill, high variance list to fly. You'll need skill if you ever hope to dodge arcs when you're surely moving before your opponent. And if you go for the block by using your boost or barrel roll, you better hope your opponent doesn't get a good shot at the blocker who is sitting with three hull behind three unmodifiable green dice.

But what you do have is a good dial with all the turns, the 5-straight, and two different k-turns. All of those greens matter a lot more when you're running the more typical Push the Limit Interceptor, making it a great dial, but it still works here.

This list hits many people awkwardly because in effect you're flying arc dodgers in formation. But if you can get over that, you can enjoy the maneuverable 5-ship swarm and roll a whopping 20 red dice if you can close to range 1! It probably shines as well as it possibly can against turret ships, gaining from Autothrusters a survivability that often eludes the low PS Interceptors. Study up on the finger-five formation, and give this a go!

Takeaway : Hate it when your buddy flies turrets on casual night? Try this.

Zealous Recruit (20) - Protectorate Starfighter

Here's the only unreleased content in this comparison. I'm very excited for the Protectorate Starfighter, but mostly becasue of the title and the high PS aces. But if you just gotta fly five, then you're looking at a bare bones Zealous Recruit.

It's most directly comparable peer seems at this time to be the Alpha Autothruster build above. You gain one more hull point but lose the Autothrusters. You gain the target lock action but lose the evade. Everything else that we know about between the two ships is identical. These two changes, and especially the target lock action instead of the evade action, make the Zealous Recruit perhaps harder hitting than the Alpha because the Alpha can never get the focus plus target lock punch. And if you trade out the Alpha's Autothrusters for the Targeting Computer, now you simply have a Zealous Recruit with one less hull.

The final piece of the puzzle will be in place when they reveal the dial, but it's hard to think of a dial that would make this totally outshine the Autoceptor above.

Takeaway : Even not knowing the dial, hard to see this as highly competitive.

Cartel Marauder (20) - Kihraxz

It made a lot of people happy to see the least expensive Kihraxz land at 20 points. It was even suggested that we would still be seeing five Rookie Pilot X-Wings on the table if they had originally been priced at 20 points. And for a while, we did hear buzz about people flying 5xKihraxz. But since then Integrated Astromech has come out to buff the Rookies and lots of much more interesting Scum ships have come out. So the Kihraxz have gathered dust.

Compared to the X-Wing, the Kihraxz trades away a shield for a hull (bad trade). In many other regards, the ships are equal. And then the X-Wing gained the Integrated Astromech buff, which is arguably worth more than another shield since you can pick what hit or crit to use it against. Both ships suffer from no boost or barrel roll, making them much stiffer to fly. We do have Vectored Thrusters coming along to help, but you won't be flying a five ship swarm with those thrusters equipped.

Nonetheless, comparing the Kihraxz against the previous 3 attack dice swarm ships, it's not too bad. It has one less green die, but who trusts those anyway? It has a shield more than the Zealot and a shield and hull more than the Interceptor, so that's nice. But it's a slower ship with no extra maneuvers to add unpredictability. It can and will be focused down.

Takeaway : Left behind. Leave it behind. Hope for a buff.

Cartel Spacer (20) - M3-A "Heavy Scyk" Interceptor (2), "Mangler" Cannon (4)

On the face of it, this seems comparable to some of the other builds. With the cannon, the stat line is nearly identical to the Interceptor except with a beneficial trade of a hull for a shield. And since the Mangler is a secondary weapon, you can deny your opponent the extra green die at range 3. But then the issues start cropping up. For a ship that wants to keep its opponent at range 3, the Scyk doesn't have a 1-straight. And when the opponent closes to range 1, your cannon is denied the extra red die. And if you switch to primaries, then you're still stuck with three reds and you lose out on the crit mod from the Mangler. All in all, this list tends to produce frustrations. But maybe I'm flying it wrong.

Takeaway : It's the Scyk. Except five of them.

Conclusion (aka tl;dr)

There are some great 5 ship swarms out there, and it's a lot of fun to fly them. The Crack swarm is definitely competitive. The Proton Rocket swarm has a wonderful and flexible ordnance punch and some slipperiness to help it get to the end. Alpha swarms might be better at either 4 or 6 ships with the existing build options. And finally, 3 attack dice swarms are still for casual night, even with the Zealot.

Thanks for reading!

Posted at 2016-07-31 02:10:06+00:00

Nice article!

Question - Is there any set of EPT/Modification upgrades that you feel would make a usable TIE Fighter in this point range? Or does the dial and modest action bar pretty much rule this out? Out of curiosity I was looking through the options and you could get something like Black Squadron + Predator + Stealth Device for 20 which seems like it would be annoying but of course that's a lot of points worth of upgrades to make on a TIE.

Posted at 2016-07-31 06:04:47+00:00

Absolutely wonderful article! It covers the most important issue in X-wing right now.

I want 4-5 ship lists to be great again. A squadron like this is such a positive play experience. This means small base generic ships need to be competitive verse fat ships and aces.

I too think the only options that are okay being A-wing, Tie/FO, TAP

Tie bombers are good with crew or missile, but not an entire list of bombers.

Scum doesn't have a single decent generic ship build in the 16-23 point range. The Fang fighter should have fixed this but those generics are all 3 points overcosted :angry: Almost all the ships in the last 2 waves have builds starting at 25+ points. X-wing needs way more variety in the 16-23 point range!

Posted at 2016-07-31 14:44:28+00:00

Nice article!

Question - Is there any set of EPT/Modification upgrades that you feel would make a usable TIE Fighter in this point range? Or does the dial and modest action bar pretty much rule this out? Out of curiosity I was looking through the options and you could get something like Black Squadron + Predator + Stealth Device for 20 which seems like it would be annoying but of course that's a lot of points worth of upgrades to make on a TIE.

Six points of upgrades on a 14 point ship is too much -- it ruins the points efficiency of the basic TIE Fighter. That's why Crack Shot is such a great EPT for cheap swarm ships and has breathed new life into them.

I know the 12 point Academy is often considered to be the efficiency standard of the whole game but I do wonder if it's time for a zero or one point modification that gives it just a nudge. A 7 or 8 ship swarm is a beautiful thing to behold, and despite the known mental fatigue of flying a swarm in a tournament environment, I think the disappearance of them from competitive play has more to do with obsolescence than difficulty. The trick with designing a zero point modification is that you may be making an auto-include card, but they did just reveal a zero point systems upgrade.

Posted at 2016-07-31 14:49:51+00:00

Absolutely wonderful article! It covers the most important issue in X-wing right now.

I want 4-5 ship lists to be great again. A squadron like this is such a positive play experience. This means small base generic ships need to be competitive verse fat ships and aces.

I too think the only options that are okay being A-wing, Tie/FO, TAP

Tie bombers are good with crew or missile, but not an entire list of bombers.

Scum doesn't have a single decent generic ship build in the 16-23 point range. The Fang fighter should have fixed this but those generics are all 3 points overcosted Almost all the ships in the last 2 waves have builds starting at 25+ points. X-wing needs way more variety in the 16-23 point range!

I'm hoping the Rogue One TIE will include some inexpensive generic pilots. How about a stat line like 2/3/2/0 for 10 points?

Posted at 2016-07-31 15:23:23+00:00

I'm hoping the Rogue One TIE will include some inexpensive generic pilots. How about a stat line like 2/3/2/0 for 10 points?

A ship costed below 12 points would be so very interesting. Most crackshot Tie swarms are now 6 ships. The next swarm build might be based upon a 10 point ship. This might bring back squads with 8 ships on the table. I want scum to get this ship.

Posted at 2016-07-31 16:09:34+00:00

What about Autoblaster Y-Wing or HWK with Dorsal + 1pt crew ?

Posted at 2016-07-31 16:43:19+00:00

Fantastic write up.

The swarm from your list that I would most like to try is your "3-Attackers" 5 Alpha Sq Pilot list, mainly because I love Interceptors and think that flying them so differently than normal in a swarm formation would be a nice change (and challenging for me, since I have limited experience flying swarms and wasn't exactly a natural at it when I tried). Unfortunately I chose to acquire my five Interceptors by buying one vanilla Interceptors and two Imperial Aces packs. It's was a great move considering how much cooler the Imperial Aces paint jobs look (and they were also really cheap when I bought them), but bad when I think I want to fly more than one of the lower-PS pilots.

Additionally, the TAP swarm sounds like it could be fun. I've had success with Prockets whenever I could get them off with The Inquisitor. I too only have one TAP though and don't foresee buying four more anytime soon (I don't know if I will even buy one more).

Posted at 2016-07-31 16:59:46+00:00

I'd also nominate the fine Tala + Homing Missiles & Guidance Chips -- which gives two points back and maintains a PS advantage over many other ordnance carriers and options in this point range. The evade-token-squishing, TL-retaining nature of Homing Missiles is quite handy versus aces.

And of course you can get some named pilots in on the action, like Cracken + Crack shot, Blount + VI + S-thread Tracers, N'dru + Lone Wolf, and so on.

And there's always the ever-fine M3A Scyk Interceptor ...

Posted at 2016-07-31 17:05:42+00:00

What about Autoblaster Y-Wing or HWK with Dorsal + 1pt crew ?

Yes, I think there are some fun options in there. I did fail to include the Autoblaster Y and that adds a really interesting dimension to the 5-ship spam list. I've never flown it and welcome any insight into how well it does.

To me the HWK and crew build fits into the TIE Shuttle swarm category which I alluded to but wasn't prepared to address in this article because I was focusing on swarms with 5 identical ships. Honestly, I don't think I'm smart enough to fly five different 1 point crew in a swarm, and those unique Scum crew like 4-Lom and Boba are too hard to pass up when you have a chance. That's the kind of list where I continually fail to activate the various abilities at the right time or else I end up playing too slowly so I don't miss anything.

Posted at 2016-07-31 17:15:28+00:00

I'd also nominate the fine Tala + Homing Missiles & Guidance Chips -- which gives two points back and maintains a PS advantage over many other ordnance carriers and options in this point range. The evade-token-squishing, TL-retaining nature of Homing Missiles is quite handy versus aces.

And of course you can get some named pilots in on the action, like Cracken + Crack shot, Blount + VI + S-thread Tracers, N'dru + Lone Wolf, and so on.

And there's always the ever-fine M3A Scyk Interceptor ...

Thanks for your additions!

Bumping up to Talas with PS 4 helps especially against U-Boats. I did mention the Binayre Pirate swarm with Homing Missiles and agree that the Z-95 swarms beg for a support ship to help them through the low PS target lock acquisition challenge. Blount with VI is a great example.

I've tried to make the Scyk work... Maybe with two or three Kihraxz up front and a couple Scyks with Mangler hanging further back...

Posted at 2016-07-31 18:04:23+00:00

Six points of upgrades on a 14 point ship is too much -- it ruins the points efficiency of the basic TIE Fighter. That's why Crack Shot is such a great EPT for cheap swarm ships and has breathed new life into them.

I know the 12 point Academy is often considered to be the efficiency standard of the whole game but I do wonder if it's time for a zero or one point modification that gives it just a nudge. A 7 or 8 ship swarm is a beautiful thing to behold, and despite the known mental fatigue of flying a swarm in a tournament environment, I think the disappearance of them from competitive play has more to do with obsolescence than difficulty. The trick with designing a zero point modification is that you may be making an auto-include card, but they did just reveal a zero point systems upgrade.

What about using the named TIE pilots then?

"The Furious Five"

Howlrunner + Crack Shot + Stealth Device

Mauler Mithel + Crack Shot + Stealth Device

Scourge + Crack Shot + Stealth Device

Backstabber + TIE MkII

Youngster + Marksmanship + TIE MkII

100

Everyone is PS6 or higher, and there's some flexibility to rearrange the upgrades a bit.

I do agree that some 0-1 point modifications would be nice on TIEs. Even a 2 point modification could be great depending what it did, there's a real lack of useful 2 point mods right now.

Posted at 2016-07-31 22:36:43+00:00

That looks like fun to fly! It's not too hard to land at six TIE's as well even when picking the 6+ PS pilots. Then you're capitalizing on their pilot abilities and high PS and skipping upgrades to get another ship on the board.

The Sick Six (100)

"Youngster" (18) - TIE Fighter Marksmanship (3)

"Wampa" (14) - TIE Fighter

Mauler Mithel (17) - TIE Fighter

"Scourge" (17) - TIE Fighter

"Howlrunner" (18) - TIE Fighter

Backstabber (16) - TIE Fighter

I'd love to see the TIE from Rogue One come in at 10 to 12 points and include a low cost modification. It just feels more like Star Wars to have a bunch of TIE's darting around.

Posted at 2016-07-31 22:48:27+00:00

That looks like fun to fly! It's not too hard to land at six TIE's as well even when picking the 6+ PS pilots. Then you're capitalizing on their pilot abilities and high PS and skipping upgrades to get another ship on the board.

The Sick Six (100)

"Youngster" (18) - TIE Fighter Marksmanship (3)

"Wampa" (14) - TIE Fighter

Mauler Mithel (17) - TIE Fighter

"Scourge" (17) - TIE Fighter

"Howlrunner" (18) - TIE Fighter

Backstabber (16) - TIE Fighter

I'd love to see the TIE from Rogue One come in at 10 to 12 points and include a low cost modification. It just feels more like Star Wars to have a bunch of TIE's darting around.

Drop Marksmanship for some Cracl Shots you'd have a list.

Posted at 2016-07-31 22:50:56+00:00

if only 5 Alpha's with AT weren't overcosted

Posted at 2016-07-31 22:52:43+00:00

That looks like fun to fly! It's not too hard to land at six TIE's as well even when picking the 6+ PS pilots. Then you're capitalizing on their pilot abilities and high PS and skipping upgrades to get another ship on the board.

The Sick Six (100)

"Youngster" (18) - TIE Fighter Marksmanship (3)

"Wampa" (14) - TIE Fighter

Mauler Mithel (17) - TIE Fighter

"Scourge" (17) - TIE Fighter

"Howlrunner" (18) - TIE Fighter

Backstabber (16) - TIE Fighter

I'd love to see the TIE from Rogue One come in at 10 to 12 points and include a low cost modification. It just feels more like Star Wars to have a bunch of TIE's darting around.

Drop Marksmanship for some Cracl Shots you'd have a list.

Yes I agree, that'd be stronger. I keep trying to force Youngster's ability to be useful!

Posted at 2016-07-31 22:58:28+00:00

That looks like fun to fly! It's not too hard to land at six TIE's as well even when picking the 6+ PS pilots. Then you're capitalizing on their pilot abilities and high PS and skipping upgrades to get another ship on the board.

The Sick Six (100)

"Youngster" (18) - TIE Fighter Marksmanship (3)

"Wampa" (14) - TIE Fighter

Mauler Mithel (17) - TIE Fighter

"Scourge" (17) - TIE Fighter

"Howlrunner" (18) - TIE Fighter

Backstabber (16) - TIE Fighter

I'd love to see the TIE from Rogue One come in at 10 to 12 points and include a low cost modification. It just feels more like Star Wars to have a bunch of TIE's darting around.

Drop Marksmanship for some Cracl Shots you'd have a list.

Yes I agree, that'd be stronger. I keep trying to force Youngster's ability to be useful!

I run a five TIE swarm but I've experimented with that exact 6 with Crack Shots.

I'm sticking with the 5 TIEs - my last decision is whether I run Backstabber without Crack or Youngster with as my last one.

Posted at 2016-08-01 03:34:02+00:00

What does your five TIE version look like?

Posted at 2016-08-01 04:07:58+00:00

Totally dug that. Interesting read. Would read again. (i.e. you should do more )

Already fantasized about doing the Autoceptors at my flgs, which isn't actually gonna happen because my flgs is two hours away and I have a housefull of kids that tend to curtail things like that, but I've fantasized the list before.

Posted at 2016-08-01 04:22:23+00:00

Seeing these three sets of manouver dials lined up so neatly makes me wish more than ever that the Protectorate Starfighter dial was the Scyk with green hard 1s, a white straight 5, and reds to taste. The layout is at this point practically definitively scummy, and the TAP there shows they've already released that very dial (and more!) without issues.

From what we've been told, it's almost certainly an FO's dial with different reds, of course. But man, that would've been distinctively scum... and maybe enough to get a slightly zoomy knife-fighter out of the generics. Priced at 19 points to go with it, they'd have been perfect, and created some interestingly nuanced headaches for the elite pilots - when PTLing, the tighter your turn, the shorter the move.

Mumble.

Posted at 2016-08-01 08:48:54+00:00

The swarm of test pilots with titles and prockets benefits from having the 5th ship be a scimtar with title and fleet officer. That build allows for two of them to either target lock+evade if in a good position or boost to reach the range 1 procket area. Opens up a lot of options really. Leaves 1 pt for initiative or, even better, intelligence agent.

Posted at 2016-08-01 14:05:29+00:00

Darth evil, on 31 Jul 2016 - 6:50 PM, said:

if only 5 Alpha's with AT weren't overcosted

Maybe, but it is a brutal list when flown well. Ran against it once and don't have a burning desire to do so again.

Posted at 2016-08-01 14:28:55+00:00

I think you sell the 1 hard turn on the Kihraxz short.

Posted at 2016-08-01 14:57:40+00:00

You are correct. I failed to address the inclusion of the 1-turn on the Kihraxz dial. Thanks for the catch!

I will add some comments in a revised version of the write up. Any thoughts on whether it changes the take away?

Posted at 2016-08-01 15:55:16+00:00

You are correct. I failed to address the inclusion of the 1-turn on the Kihraxz dial. Thanks for the catch!

I will add some comments in a revised version of the write up. Any thoughts on whether it changes the take away?

I think it becomes a better knife fighter than a ship like the X-wing. It gets compared to the T-65 often enough, but I do think that the 1 sharp turn is significantly different. It used to be called the best maneuver in the whole game. It can be used to have firing arcs on ships when other ships wouldn't get it. For a cheap 3 attack die ship, it's always good to just keep throwing the dice out there.

Do I think people will recognize it much? Probably not. I don't think much will change people's opinions on the Kihraxz Fighter until some fix comes out for it. It's too bad.

I think Vectored Thrusters will do nicely for it, but then it's not 20 pts. I think the 1 hard turn combined with BR will be pretty nice.

Price Point 20: A Comparison